WGU - Information Technology Management

Buyer Power

(One of Porter's Five Forces) customers have many choices and low switching costs, reduce their power by locking customers into your product or service

Threat of New Entrants

(One of Porter's Five Forces) how easily someone else can come in and copy what you're doing

Competitive Rivalry

(One of Porter's Five Forces) how hard competitors compete against each other, do they collude on pricing or try to undercut each other

Threat of Substitutes

(One of Porter's Five Forces) alternatives to a given product or service

Supplier Power

(One of Porter's Five Forces) customers have few choices and high switching costs

Information Systems (8 types)

1. Supply Chain Management, 2.Customer Relationship Management, 3.Partner Relationship Management, 4.Knowledge Management, 5.Human Resource Information System, 6.Finance Information System, 7.Accounting Information System, 8.Enterprise Resource Planning

Byte

8 bits combined to allow for 256 possible values/combinations (2^8=256)

Accounting Information System

Manages monetary transactions, the flow of money in and out of the business and reporting on such

Porter's Five Forces

Buyer Power, Supplier Power, Threat of Substitutes, Threat of New Entrants, Competitive Rivalry

CRM

Customer Relationship Mangement

Knowledge Management

Collaboration and sharing of information among employees or customers

Types of Information (3 types)

Data, Information, Business intelligence

DBMS

Database Management System

Delete this card

Delete this card

Porter's 3 Strategies

Focus, Differentiation, Cost Leadership

Databases (6 types of structures)

Hierarchical, Network, Object Oriented, Relational, Data Warehouse, Data Mart

HR

Human Resources

Relational Database

Individual tables, each containing data about separate aspects of the business, designed to reduce redundancy and chance for data errors or inconsistencies (customer address, current inventory, customer purchases, sales personnel contact information)

Hardware (6 types)

Input, Output, Storage, Processing, Telecommunication, Peripheral

Database Management System (DBMS)

Interface that allows users to set up tables and relationships, manipulate data, administer security, and backup data

Information types (4 types)

Internal, external, Objective, Subjective

Finance Information System

Manage how a business makes investments and manages its assets

MIS

Management Information Systems

Object Oriented Database

Objects are created, with various common characteristics. Individual sets or instances of the object may have additional characteristics

Network Database

Organic relationships among various data points. This is how the internet works - with hyperlinks from one page linking to other websites, a specific article on a given site, or even a particular piece of text or image on a given page

PRM

Partner Relationship Mangement

Relationships in a relational database (3 terms)

Primary Key, Foreign Key, Referential Integrity

Competitive Advantage

Providing more value than the competition

Data Warehouses aka analytical database

Rather than linking many two dimensional tables like a relational database does, the analytical database is multidimensional, allowing for faster analysis and comparison and filtering of data. Redundancy is okay, because the analytical database is concerned with reading the data, not with updating it like a transactional (Student added: eg. Relational) database. Often contain summarized data, but may contain individual transactions as well

Hierarchical Database

Root and branches, Parent branches into child nodes, each data point can only be put into one place

Computer Forms (7 types, increasing sizes)

Smartphone, Tablet, Laptop, Desktop, Mid-range, Mainframe, Supercomputer

Partner Relationship Management

Specialized application of CRM, focused on relationships with channel partners and distributors as opposed to direct customers

Information Flow: Vertically, Up

Specific transactions are aggregated and summarized for managers

Human Resource Information System

Staffing, training, hiring, career management, and performance evaluation

SCM

Supply Chain Management

Software (3 types)

System, Application, Utility

4 Information quality factors

Timeliness, Location, Form, Validity

Databases (2 types of processing)

Transaction Processing, Analytical Processing

Primary key

Used in relational database. Unique identifier associated with each record in a given table

Foreign key

Used in relational database. Unique identifier from one table (the primary key) stored in another table

Referential Integrity

Used in relational databases. A foreign key must exist in another table as a primary key.

Information flow (3 types, 1 quality of)

Vertically, Horizontally, In/Out, Granularity

Social Media (3 types)

Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Facebook Twitter, Google + etc.

Break Even Analysis (Definition and a tip)

When (Revenue - Variable Cost) times number of units sold is greater than or equal to Fixed Cost, you have broken even (Tip) Use Technology to reduce fixed or variable costs and increase revenue

Business Intelligence

a collection of information that allows you to make strategic business decisions

Timeliness

access to information when you need it

Location (an information quality factor)

access to information where you need it

Fixed Cost (Part of break-even analysis)

amount you spend no matter how much you sell (rent, design, advertising)

Artificial Intelligence (within a database)

automated tools for recognizing relationships among data in a data warehouse

Data

basic facts, fairly meaningless out of context

Bit

binary digit, counting system with two possible values (0/1), bits combined to form a byte

Granularity of information

changes as it moves up and down vertically, fine granularity for specific situations, course granularity for strategic decision-making

Enterprise Resource Planning

comprehensive, integrated system that brings together SCM,CRM, accounting, finance, HR, and other systems to ensure information freely flows through a centralized database

Management Information Systems

coordinating information, people, technology

Validity (an information quality factor)

credibility of the source

Hertz

cycles per second, measurement of processor speed

Analytical Processing Database

decision making database or data warehouse, focused on efficiently analyzing historical information and trends in order to gather business intelligence

Information Flow: Horizontally

departments within the organization share information with each other

Tablet

device larger than a phone but smaller than a laptop, optimized for consuming web-based content

Web 2.0

dynamic text, database-driven to provide unique content, able to be manipulated and changed by page visitors or external sources

Web 1.0

early days of the internet, static text and images programmed directly into webpages

Subjective Information

estimates, unknowns, educated guesses

Information Flow: In/Out

exchanging information with customers and suppliers, or sometimes even with competitors

Peripheral Hardware

external devices and the ports they plug into in order to add additional functionality

Laptop

full-featured computer with more functionality than a smartphone or tablet but still portable, with battery and wireless network access

Storage Hardware

hard drive, memory card, DVD, or other device for storing information

2 categories of computer technology

hardware, software

Mainframe

high end server supporting hundreds or thousands of users at a time

SQL

high level programming language (4th generation) used to create and manipulate data and database structures; optimizing queries helps them run faster (for example, if you want to know the lifetime purchasing totals for all customers in Kansas, you would filter out just Kansas customers before you add up all their orders; adding up the purchasing histories of all customers nationwide and then dropping out all the ones who don't live in Kansas would be a waste of time and processing power)

Form (an information quality factor)

how it is presented and its accuracy (Garbage In, Garbage Out is a way of saying information had bad form so it's useless.)

Revenue (part of break-even analysis)

how much you sell each unit for

I/O

in and out

External Information

information about the environment in which the organization operates

Internal Information

information about the organization

Input Hardware

keyboard, mouse, microphone, joystick, scanner or other devices used to turn human actions or real life information into commands for the computer to carry out

Objective Information

known, measurable information

Customer Relationship Management

managing and tracking interactions with customers or potential customers, including leads, contact management, sales forecasts, order fulfillment, and post-sale support and warranties

Supercomputer

massive cluster used in research intensive environments for monitoring and crunching enormous amounts of data, such as for large financial markets, weather tracking, and law enforcement

Mid-range (computer)

minicomputer, more powerful than a desktop, designed for several users to access at a time, often providing web services such as an intranet site or a print server

Smartphone

mobile phone with ability to take pictures, play music, search the internet, and run various software installed by the user

Telecommunication Hardware

modem, Bluetooth, or other device for transmitting and receiving information across a network

Output Hardware

monitor, speakers, printer, or other device used to translate information into a form humans can understand (a touchscreen could be both input and output or I/O)

Porter's Differentiation strategy

offer similar products but a unique experience

Porter's Cost Leadership strategy

offer the same product at a better price

System Software

operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Unix, iOS) which coordinates the activities of hardware and software

Transaction Processing Database

operational database, focused on carrying out individual transactions such as order fulfillment, making payments, updating contact information, or accessing files

Data dictionary

part of a relational database. Containing the logical structure, relationships among tables, and constraints of individual fields in those tables (inventory codes and employee ID numbers must follow a certain pattern, purchase date stored in a consistent format, customer first and last name required)

Kilo, Mega, Giga, Tera, Peta

prefixes indicating multiples of 1,000 bytes or hertz

Application Software

productivity, entertainment, communication, or other software that lets you manipulate data or perform tasks (browser, spreadsheet, word processor, video editing)

Porter's Focus Strategy

provide something no one else does, narrow or niche strategy

Dashboard

real time displays of key performance indicators and other trends that can indicate the existence of a problem or opportunity, comes from a data warehouse

Information (as opposed to Data)

relevant data to be used in making a specific operational decision

Utility Software

software that coordinates with the operating system to provide security or optimize performance, not the reason you have the computer but ensures it can run the application software appropriately

Information Flow: Vertically, Down

strategies and goals from management are applied in making decisions related to individual customers or suppliers

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, World of Warcraft, Foursquare, etc.

systems used to keep users in contact with people they already know or get to know new people who are interested in similar things, driven by location, relationships, and sharing of user-generated content

Processing Hardware

the CPU or brain of the computer that actually performs calculations; some video cards may have a separate processor optimized for graphics

Desktop

the traditional personal computer, with large monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer, and other devices, powerful, with plenty of storage and high end graphics, not very portable but more powerful and easier to use than a laptop

Data mining tools

tools for manually analyzing data in a data warehouse

Supply Chain Management

tracking of inventory, production, distribution, and other aspects of the product lifecycle to ensure each department's actions coordinate with those of others

Variable Cost (part of break-even analysis)

unit price of labor and materials